Holder urges plan to keep foreign fighters out of Syria

Jul. 8, 2014
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U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder / Olivier Douliery, Pool EPA

by Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY

by Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY

Citing a widening "global crisis,'' Attorney General Eric Holder urged his international counterparts Tuesday to intervene in an attempt to block the flow of thousands of foreign fighters who are taking up arms in Syria's civil war.

Holder, addressing an audience of diplomats, academics and national security officials in Norway, said the Syrian conflict has transformed the region into "a cradle of violent extremism'' where fighters - many from Europe and the United States - represent a growing threat as they return to their home nations where they may launch attacks.

U.S. officials have estimated that there are more than 7,000 foreign fighters in Syria, including dozens of Americans. In May, the State Department confirmed that a U.S. citizen from Florida was behind a suicide bombing that targeted Syrian government troops.

"This is a global crisis in need of a global solution,'' Holder said. "The world cannot simply sit back and let it become a training ground from which our nationals can return and launch attacks. And we will not.''

The attorney general, on the second day of a five-day foreign trip during which Syria was expected to be a major topic of discussion with security officials, described the potential threat as "grave.'' And he urged authorities to adopt "investigative and prosecutorial tools that allow us to be pre-emptive in our approach to confronting this problem.''

"If we wait for our nations' citizens to travel to Syria or Iraq, to become radicalized, and to return home, it may be too late to adequately protect our national security,'' Holder said.

"We have a mutual and compelling interest in developing shared strategies for confronting the influx of U.S.- and European-born violent extremists into Syria. And because our citizens can freely travel, visa free, from the U.S. to Norway and other European states â?? and vice versa â?? the problem of fighters in Syria returning to any of our countries is a problem for all of our countries.''

Holder recommended that his European counterparts adopt some tactics currently being used in the U.S., including laws that bar financial contributions, personnel, weapons, training, counsel and other aid to terrorist organizations.

Known as "material support'' laws in the U.S., federal prosecutors have commonly employed the tactic, especially since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

The attorney general also urged consideration of a sometimes controversial tactic used by the FBI in which agents use informants or undercover agents to identify suspected operatives. Some defense lawyers have asserted that the tactic involves entrapment. But Holder contended Tuesday that "these operations are conducted with extraordinary care and precision, ensuring that law enforcement officials are accountable for the steps they take â?? and that suspects are neither entrapped nor denied legal protections.''